Suction roll cleaner



Dec. 11, 1962 R. MANZO ETAL sucwxou ROLL CLEANER Filed Sept. 16, 1960 INVENTORS ATTO NEYS United States Patent 3,067,445 SUCTION ROLL CLEANER I Richard Lewis Manzo and Thomas William St. John, Mlllinocket, Maine, assignors to Great Northern Paper Company, Bangor, Maine, a corporation of Maine Filed Sept. 16, 1960, Ser. No. 56,451 3 Claims. (Cl. 15-10407) This invention relates to a suction roll cleaner and more particularly to a suction roll cleaner having means for reciprocally moving a plurality of cleaning prongs or tools in and out of the suction holes of a suction roll.

Suction type rolls which are utilized in the manufacture of various products including paper comprise generally large hollow rotating cylinders situated at specified locations integral with the manufacturing machinery. The rolls have therein a plurality of small suction holes by which fluid may be withdrawn from the moving product as it is transferred through the particular manufacturing equipment. The holes of the rolls will after a period of time become clogged up with pieces of product fiber which will reduce the suction exerted on the product by the roll and thus reduce the amount of fluid removed.

Heretofore, in order to unplug the suction holes of the suction rolls, it was necessary to ream out each individual hole by pounding a cleaning tool into the hole and then forceably pulling the tool from the hole. This was necessarily a time-consuming process since a suction roll of a typical paper machine will have many thousands of holes. It is, therefore, a purpose of our invention to provide a suction roll cleaner having a plurality of cleaning tools which may be driven into several suction holes of a suction roll at one time by power means and to provide also for a separate power means whereby the cleaning tools may be withdrawn from the holes.

Generally, our suction roll cleaner comprises a body portion of two pneumatic cylinders having mounted thereon for reciprocal movement, a mounting plate to which are afiixed a plurality of cleaning tools or pins so spaced that they correspond in spacing to the suction holes in the suction roll. The body portion has thereon a first drive means for forceably moving the plate and attached pins longitudinally away from the body portion and into the several holes of the suction roll. In addition, the body portion has a second drive means whereby the plate and attached pins may be pulled out of the holes of the suction roll back towards the body portion.

Referring to the drawings in which a preferred embodiment of our invention is illustrated,

FIG. 1 is a side view of a suction roll cleaner con structed according to our invention illustrating part oi the cleaner in section;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the cleaner of FIG. 1 taken along lines 22; and,

FIG 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of 2 showing the pins in contact with a portion of a suction roll.

Referring in greater detail to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, 1 denotes generally a body portion comprising two pneumatic cylinders 2 and 3. A pneumatic piston 4 is slidable in cylinder 3 and contacts thereto a rod 5 which in turn has mounted on the end thereof a mounting plate 6. Mounting plate 6 in turn has affixed thereto a plurality of cleaning tools or pins 7 which are so spaced that they correspond to the spacing of the suction holes in a suction roll.

Cylinder 2 has slidable therein a pneumatic piston 8 which makes impact contact through rod 9 to a yoke member 10. Yoke member 10 in turn is connected by means of arms 11 and 12 to the mounting plate 6.

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Cylinders 2 and 3 are joined by means of pipe 13 which in turn connects with pipe 14 which runs to a source of pressurized air (not shown). Valve controls 15 and 16 are rotatable about the pins 17 and 18 so that when they are displaced, they will cause valve stems 19 and 20 to move downward into the cylinders to open a valve (not shown) to allow pressurized air to enter into the cylinders 2 and 3 and so move the pistons 4 and 8 depending on which valve control is displaced. The particular construction of the valves is conventional and is not a part of the invention.

The rod 5 has a track 21 therein in which rides a retainer ball 22 which in turn is held in place by collar 23. Collar 23 is connected to the end of the cylinder 3 and the ball and collar serve to limit movement of the piston 4. Rod 9 has a similar retaining means.

When the suction roll cleaner is inserted into a avsuction roll 30, as shown in FIG. 3, the valve lever 15 is displaced in order to allow pressurized air to enter into the cylinder 3. This will in turn force the piston 4 downward onto the rod 5 to cause the cleaning pins 7 to be moved into the plugged holes of the suction roll. At the same time, because the plate 6 is connected by means of the arms 11 and 12 and yoke 10 to the rod 9, the complete unit will be caused to be moved downwards and air will be exhausted from the cylinder 2.

In order to withdraw the pins from the suction roll, valve lever 16 is displaced while lever 15 is allowed to rise. This will cause pressurized air to be admitted to the cylinder 2 to force the piston 8 upwards against rod 9 and thus pull the plate 6 and attached pins 7 from the suction roll suction holes.

It is clear that by using a suction roll cleaner such as we have described, the time for cleaning a complete roll may be appreciably d minished, thus reducing overall expense of cleaning. While we have shown a particular construction for a preferred embodiment of a suction roll cleaner, it is obvious that various structural changes may be made which will still come within the scope of the invention which is to be limited only by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A cleaner tool for a suction roll of the suction type having therein a plurality of suction holes comprising. two pneumatic cylinders which extend co-axially with one another, a conduit connected to a source of pneumatic pressure joining said cylinders, a pneumatic piston slidable in each said cylinder, valve means on each said cylinder for selectively admitting pressurized air from said source of pneumatic pressure into said cylinder, a mounting plate connected to one of said pistons, a plurality of cleaning tools rtfixed to said mounting plate, a yoke connected to the other of said pistons, and arms joining said yoke and said mounting plate; said yoke, arms, pistons, mounting plate and afiixed cleaning tools all moving as a unit as pressurized air is admitting to either of said two cylinders.

2. A suction roll cleaner comprising a body portion, a mounting plate carried by and movable longitudinally with respect to said body portion, a plurality of cleaning pins afiixed to said mounting plate, a first pneumatic cylinder comprising a part of said body portion, a first pneumatic piston slidable in said first pneumatic cylinder and being connected to said mountin late, a source of pneumatic pressure connected to said first pneumatic cylinder, 21 second pneumatic cylinder comprising a part of said body portion, a second pneumatic piston slidable in said second cylinder, a yoke connected to said second piston, arms connecting said yoke and said mounting plate, and said second pneumatic cylinder being connected to said source of pneumatic pressure; said first pneumatic piston moving away from said body portion to thrust said pins into suction holes of a suction roll when said first cylinmatic pressure from said source of pneumatic pressure to der is connected to said source of pneumatic pressure and said first and second pneumatic cylinders. said second pneumatic piston moving said plate towards said body portion and pulling said pins from said holes References asked in the of this Patent when said second cylinder is connected to said source of 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS g g a f 1 1 2 h 2,812,531 Ashley Nov. 12, 1957 suctlon r0 0 eaner accor mg to c alm avmg in addition valve means for selectively admitting pneu- FOREIGN PATENTS 304,570 Great Britain .a J an. 24, 1929 

